Arizona Wildfires Scorch Thousands of Acres
Hundreds of firefighters battled several Arizona wildfires on Monday that charred more than 7,000 acres of parched Ponderosa forest, brush and grassland over the weekend, consuming half a dozen buildings and threatening a small town, authorities said.
The Sunflower Fire, the largest of at least four blazes in central and eastern Arizona, burned 3,100 acres in the Tonto National Forest, about 40 miles north of Phoenix, destroying two homes, a business and two outbuildings over the weekend, the Southwest Coordination Center said.
About 350 residents in the nearby community of Crown King were under mandatory evacuation on Monday after the human-caused Gladiator Fire burned 3,000 acres of ponderosa pine, brush and chaparral in the Prescott National Forest and destroyed three buildings.